Logging In As Root

Because Mac OS X is based on Unix, there is a user account on every Mac OS X machine called root. The root account has permission to do everything that is possible; the root account permissions go way beyond even the Administrator account permissions. Because of this, logging in under this root account is very powerful, and it is also dangerous because it isn't that hard to mess up your system, delete directories (whether you intended to or not), and so on. However, because you will sometimes need to log in under the root account to accomplish specific tasks, you should understand and become comfortable with it.

You should be logged in under the root account only for the minimum time necessary to accomplish specific tasks. Log in, do what you need to, and then log out of root again. This will minimize the chance of doing something that you didn't intend to do because you forgot that you are logged in under root.